“And where is Catherine now?
Where is my sister?”
Richard didn’t look at her.
His jaw worked.
His eyes closed.
“Tell her,” Claire said.
“Tell me.”
“Six months after you were born,” Richard said, “Victor’s people found the safe house.
There was a fire.”
Claire’s hand went to her mouth.
“Your mother got you out.
She handed you to me through a window on the second floor.
I caught you.” His voice broke for the first time.
“She went back inside for the evidence folder.
The one that would have put Victor away forever.”
“Did she…” Claire couldn’t finish.
“She didn’t make it out.”
Claire’s cry was raw and sudden.
She collapsed against Richard’s chest.
His arms closed around her.
The entire ballroom was silent.
Evelyn’s face twisted.
“If Catherine d*ed in that fire, then how—”
“She didn’t d*e in the fire,” Morrow said.
“She passed three days later at a federal medical facility from smoke inhalation and internal injuries.
Colonel Hale was informed.
He was given custody of the infant.
The protective program created Claire’s new identity.
Everything was sealed.”
Evelyn’s voice went cold.
“You knew.
You knew she was alive and you never told me.”
“I knew she was alive for three days,” Richard said.
“Long enough for her to hold her daughter one last time and make me promise to keep that child safe from anyone connected to Victor Ashland.”
He looked directly at Evelyn.
“Including you.”
Evelyn staggered.
“I’m her sister.”
“You visited Victor in Switzerland three weeks after the fire,” Morrow said.
“We have the flight records.
You told him where the safe house was located.”
The ballroom gasped.
Evelyn’s hands were shaking.
